Avoid the lines at the mall…. get the gift of unemployment on Black Friday

For those with family or friends who are facing difficulties in their career endeavors, an Austin company is offering an alternative holiday gift idea.

Jobcannon.com, an Austin-based firm, is offering a “Black Friday” special for those who retweet their special holiday offer before Monday. By retransmitting their holiday special via Twitter, the firm is offering a 50-percent discount to everyone who helps promote their services.

Here’s what I like about jobcannon.com’s product. To me, it’s the first online job search tool to help their clients understand that internal change is needed as part of their career retransformation. For most of the unemployed or underemployed, they take the role of a job seeker, taking anything that puts money into their pockets. However, jobcannon.com helps people realize they should focus their employment efforts as a “skill holder.”

A retiring military noncommissioned officer, who spent his career as an Air Force munitions loader, knows there isn’t a lot of opportunities to continue loading munitions. However, a program like jobcannon.com can help that sergeant realize he has considerable skills as a inventory management professional. Once he or she realizes that she has those skills, it’s easier to focus a career search on companies that value those talents.

Jobcannon.com also helps those facing career changes to find their job champions. For someone like the munitions loader, a job champion can advise them on how to tailor their resume or who to contact within the organization. Job champions help those seeking a job get the inside track within those companies by helping them uncover those unlisted positions before they are formally posted.

A year’s subscription to jobcannon.com is a perfect gift as well for those who have a job. In these turbulent times, a skill holder can begin the process to transition from a current position into something that has more openings.

For example, a copy repairman knows that more job cuts are possible in his industry. He or she knows they have the skills to move into biomedical equipment repair, an industry that has considerable job prospects. With the help of jobcannon.com, he or she could find someone to mentor them and start the transition to one within that new industry sector.

So, this Black Friday, avoid the long lines at Best Buy or the San Marcos Outlet Mall. Instead, take a visit to the jobcannon web site to purchase a gift that will truly help those in need of career change.

(Important disclosure: While I work as a publicist for jobcannon.com, I believe its Black Friday offer is something every person who knows of someone in need of career transition should consider as a gift.)